As you read a variety of scriptures, you begin to become aware that they all sound very much alike. This is because they are all speaking about a holy inner experience that completes us, makes us aware that we are whole. Whatever word or name we use for it – God or Allah, Truth, Love, Life Everlasting, the Tao, or a myriad of others – the Eternal Word, the Eternal Name, remains the same in the realm of that inner experience. For instance:

The kingdom of God is within you.

In you is all of Heaven; every leaf that falls is given life in you. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in you. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for you.

You will also notice that the word “Knowledge” is used quite frequently in every scripture – and ultimately you will realize that it refers to a very special kind of Knowledge, not merely intellectual information or understanding. If, when you read the word “Knowledge”, you give it a capital “K” and use the phrase “Knowledge of God”, then the scripture will often make more sense.

For instance, from Isaiah 11:9…

They will neither harm nor destroy
in all my holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full
of the Knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

From Chapter 18 in A Course In Miracles – remember to read, “Knowledge of God”…

What could God give but Knowledge of Himself?…

This course will lead to Knowledge, but Knowledge itself is still beyond the scope of our curriculum… The readiness for Knowledge still must be attained.

Love is not learned. Its meaning lies within itself. And learning ends when you have recognised all it is not. That is the interference; that is what needs to be undone. Love is not learned, because there never was a time in which you knew it not. Learning is useless in the Presence of your Creator, Whose acknowledgement of you and yours of Him so far transcend all learning that everything you learned is meaningless, replaced forever by the Knowledge of Love and its one meaning.

To inspire us all (myself included) toward the speedy realization of Knowledge, I put together a book that compares the course’s use of the word “Knowledge” with quotes from many other world scriptures throughout the ages.

If you are interested in learning more about Knowledge, please see my book by that name – Knowledge, The Essence of World Scriptures.You can get it either as an elegant paperback or as a Kindle. You don’t need to own a Kindle machine to read a Kindle document; you can download the free Kindle program to your computer and read Kindle books on it.

The book Knowledge will provide you with tantalizing new insights into world scriptures and religions. This book makes it very clear that Knowledge of God is your birthright. Knowledge of God is the promise of every scripture.

Most of us do not realize, until it has been pointed out, that the word “the” occurs twice in the above statement. When we look again and realize there are two, we wonder how we could have possibly missed seeing them both. Now, it is all we can see when we gaze back at the line – “the the”. What could we have been thinking? It seems so obvious. And then comes Knowledge. From ACIM Ch 18.VI…

What could God give but Knowledge of Himself?

Knowledge is a simple two-syllable word that is used quite frequently in A Course In Miracles (ACIM), and its importance can be invisible to us until and unless it is pointed out.

The word “knowledge” is often underestimated by the ordinary, limited human mind, or “the ego”, because it assumes that knowledge refers to what can fit within a finite human consciousness. It cannot imagine there is anything beyond mental comprehension. It does not doubt its own authority. If it believes something, then it defines its belief as fact. Yet the realm of the mind is knowledge, not Knowledge. Divine Knowledge is the realm of Divine Mind.

Could the Knowledge ACIM speaks of be the same Knowledge as in other scriptures? It appears so. For instance, from the bible…

“They will neither harm nor destroy
in all my holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full
of the Knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.” – Isaiah 11

Then shalt thou understand the fear [awe] of the Lord,
and find the Knowledge of God. – Proverbs 2

Be still and Know that I am God. – Psalm 46

The Kingdom of God is within you. – Luke 17

Yes, the Knowledge the course speaks of is of the highest order. Knowledge refers to an experience beyond the human mind, one it cannot reach, imagine, nor recreate.

How to tell the difference when reading the course? I suggest substituting “Knowledge of God” for the word “knowledge”. In most cases, “Knowledge of God” will fit. If you simply search ACIM for “knowledge”, you will find that statement after statement tie together to give a clear picture of what Knowledge means and why it is vitally important. On page 92 of the urtext is a tiny line that says it all…

The purpose of this course is to prepare you for Knowledge.

Knowledge is important enough to Jesus to bring us the course and it is important to us because it fulfills the promise of Lesson 101…

God’s will for me is perfect happiness.

Does “perfect happiness” mean an upgrade to our mundane human lives? The perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect spouse? Or could “perfect happiness” mean that God’s will for us is to have absolute perfection – the Knowledge of Himself? Imagine having this at your fingertips, available to you on a daily basis…

Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches, as you look, into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it no longer is contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity, forever shining, and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it, everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside. For there is nowhere that this light is not. – ACIM Ch 21.I

The either/or nature of the course is implicit in the above description. We are either in the world, a fleeting dream comprised of people, places and things that come and go – or we are in this beautiful, exquisite, immaculate, perfect, endless living, loving, flowing, glowing Light that is God. The two are mutually exclusive. One is absolute – cannot be threatened. The other is a temporary reality show.
We are fortunate indeed to have a handbook that prepares us for Knowledge of God, of Reality. We all have learned that the happiness of this world can turn on a dime, while the perfect happiness that is God’s Will for us, is always there, constant, true, exceeding any and all human imagination and expectation.

Why is it important to discern between knowledge and Knowledge in our reading of ACIM and other scriptures? About 5% of the world’s population has had a near-death experience. Some say they wanted to stay in that heaven forever and were sorely disappointed when they were told they still had unfinished business on earth. To encourage them, they were told to “receive Knowledge”. They heard the word “knowledge”, but didn’t realize there is such a thing as an uppercase Knowledge that allows them to see the pure white Light on a daily basis, to feel the Love and Peace. And so, they came back and enroll in school – but this Knowledge, they can’t get in college.

And it’s not just those who have had a near-death experience. Our hearts remember before our earthly births and are calling us back to the Light. When we understand ACIM terminology, we make faster progress.

As long as anyone has a sincere desire to know the Truth, the Holy Spirit will guide them kindly to the keys to the Kingdom, the Knowledge of God. Aspirants used to have to climb mountains and swim oceans to receive Knowledge. Our job, should we choose to accept it, is to clear away the blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence, which is no small task.

The value of practicing Knowledge on a regular basis is that we begin to release our false identities – as bodies, feelings, thoughts, personalities and stories – and instead begin to identify more with our true Identity as Light, Love, Spirit, Joy and Wisdom. Unconditional love, compassion and appreciation become our way in the world and the world reflects that back to us, making this a heaven on earth.

This article is to make clear that Knowledge is beyond knowledge, Truth is beyond truth, the Word is beyond words, that the Name is beyond names. Perhaps in another article we will talk about, “All healing is essentially the release from fear” and how to do that, as…

The readiness for Knowledge still must be attained. Love is not learned. Its meaning lies in Itself. And learning ends when you have recognized all it is not. That is the interference; that is what needs to be undone. Love is not learned, because there never was a time in which you knew it not. – ACIM Ch 18.IX

See my book Knowledge, The Essence of World Scriptures for more beautiful quotes about Knowledge, written by saints and sages, masters and mystics throughout the ages.

A Course In Miracles
Manual for Teachers
Clarification of Terms
Introduction

This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. The structure of “individual consciousness” is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the “original error” or the “original sin.”To study the error itself does not lead to correction, if you are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error. And it is just this process of overlooking at which the course aims.

All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. 7 Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.

This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. It is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been raised. However, this answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. These are attributes of the ego. The course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent.

The ego will demand many answers that this course does not give. It does not recognize as questions the mere form of a question to which an answer is impossible. The ego may ask, “How did the impossible occur?”, “To what did the impossible happen?”, and may ask this in many forms. Yet there is no answer; only an experience. Seek only this, and do not let theology delay you.

You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in the course is brief and early. Afterwards and soon, it drops away to make way for the central teaching. Since you have asked for clarification, however, these are some of the terms that are used.